Plumes of contaminated underground water could be releasing dangerous vapors into family homes at Fort Lewis. But despite years of urging from the Environmental Protection Agency, the military has not tested the housing for toxic gas, nor has it warned the hundreds of soldiers, spouses and children who have occupied the dwellings that they could be at risk. For at least five years, military officials have known of the possible seepage of trichloroethylene vapors from groundwater near and under the homes in the fort's Madigan Army Medical Center housing area, according to interviews and government documents obtained by the Seattle P-I. Trichloroethylene, known as TCE, can cause a number of adverse effects, such as kidney cancer and reproductive, developmental and neurological abnormalities. The Army has not tested inside the homes to see if the enlisted personnel and lower-ranking officers and their families who occupy the dwellings are being exposed to ... http://seattlepi.nwsource.com

The Vancouver branch of Washington State University was evacuated Tuesday night because of threatening graffiti discovered in a campus restroom shortly before an evening conference on the Patriot Act and the war on terror, authorities said.University officials decided to evacuate the campus about 6:30 p.m. after the graffiti was found, according to Sgt. Mike Cooke of the Clark County sheriff's office.The Columbian newspaper in Vancouver reported the graffiti scrawled in a women's restroom referred to the killings at Virginia Tech and included words, to the effect, that if the tragedy in Virginia was horrifying, wait until 8 p.m.The threat came on the same night that Brandon Mayfield, an attorney wrongly arrested by FBI agents after the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings, was scheduled to appear on campus as part of a forum on civil liberties titled "Casualties of the USA Patriot Act and the War on Terror."...http://www.komotv.com/news/7074327.html

A nearly all-female jury began deliberations Wednesday on a life or death sentence for a woman convicted of kidnapping an acquaintance and hacking up her body with a chain saw. In closing arguments earlier in the day, prosecutor Dave Nelson said Daphne Wright deserves to die by lethal injection because the mutilation was the act of a depraved mind. Wright's public defender, Jeff Larson, argued that she burned and cut the body as an afterthought and that the slaying was an isolated act motivated by jealousy. "Do you really think the body was dismembered for some perverse pleasure," Larson asked the jury, "or because she couldn't figure out how to get a 200-pound body out of the basement?" The jury of 11 woman and one man must first decide whether the state proved depravity of mind beyond a reasonable doubt. If jurors think prosecutors did, they can consider whether to give Wright the death penalty or life in prison without parole. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3053505

A British government official and a former political researcher went on trial Wednesday for allegedly leaking a classified memo in which President Bush reportedly referred to bombing the Arab television station Al-Jazeera. David Keogh, 50, a cipher expert, and Leo O'Connor, 44, a lawmaker's aide, are accused of violating secrecy laws by disclosing a document relating to 2004 talks between Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Both defendants deny violating the Official Secrets Act. Prosecutors allege Keogh passed the memo to O'Connor in May 2004, who in turn placed it in a file he handed to his boss, Tony Clarke, then a legislator who had voted against Britain's decision to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Daily Mirror newspaper previously reported that the memo noted Blair had argued against Bush's suggestion of bombing Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The Daily Mirror said its sources disagreed on whether Bush's suggestion was serious....http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3053457

The American Red Cross selected Mark Everson, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, to be its new president Wednesday, filling the post as the charity restructures itself after intense criticism over its response to Hurricane Katrina The Red Cross had been led by an interim president, Jack McGuire, since December 2005, when Marsha Evans resigned because of friction with the charity's board of governors. Her resignation coincided with congressional hearings assailing the Red Cross's uneven performance in Katrina's aftermath. Everson, 52, who will take the Red Cross post on May 29, has served as IRS commissioner since May 2003. He previously was a vice president of SC International, a $2 billion food services company, and an executive with the French industrial group Pechiney. "It is an honor and a privilege to become part of such a vital and enduring humanitarian service organization," Everson said. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/18/national/main2699237.shtml?source=RSSattr=U.S._2699237

Two wildfires forced more than 1,000 people from their homes in southeastern Georgia and threatened the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation's best-preserved wetland areas, officials said Wednesday. Residents had been evacuated from homes in the Waycross area since Monday and were still out Wednesday afternoon, said Eric Mosley, spokesman for the Georgia Forestry Commission. Classes at Waycross schools were canceled, and the private Okefenokee Swamp Park was evacuated and its animals moved to safety. The larger blaze, which had burned about 40 square miles, or 25,000 acres, ignited Monday near Waycross when a tree fell on a power line, then raced through tinder-dry forest to the refuge, officials said. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3053437